Started from the Angel CG up the CT. CT was mostly snow free, didn't start skinning til 10400ft. Snow was nicely consolidated, above treeline it was all windblown powder til near the top where the surface became wind/sun crust(unskinnable). Left skis at the top of the left arm(climbers right) as snow is not continuous from the summit. Ended up skiing the head for better turns, 4" wind blown powder in the lower body made for nice turns. Blank Gulch TH should be open soon.

This was my 2nd time at Shav/Tab. The first time was Oct 2006 when the winds turned terrible above treeline and my partner and I were forced to turn back.

So, met up with a guy from 14ers.com on the trail. I started at 7AM, but he didn't start until 7:30. Though it'd been sunny all day, we hit treeline and the clouds rolled in. A little depressed, we pressed on to the saddle where we met 2 other couples who were waiting out the fog. We pressed on, and immediately, the clouds cleared.

Anyway, summitted Shav, didn't eat much, then went over to Tab. Hit the saddle, and was floored by a wave of nausea. Sat down and thought about turning back. After a bit, decided to force myself up to the summit of Tab. Met my partner up there as well as another guy, who all thought I had altitude sickness, which was weird since I hadn't had altitude sickness in any of my 12 other 14er summits! So, I started eating an apple and felt great right away. PHEW! Guess I just was hypoglycemic.

I left the Blank Gulch trailhead at 6:50 AM and arrived at Shavano's summit at 9:45. There is no snow left in the Angel now. There were some ominous clouds off to the northwest, so there was some concern about whether the weather would cooperate for Tabeguache. Fortunately, it did. I took a short break there, and then headed over to Tabeguache.

In his musings on mountaineering A. Alvarez describes climbing as an annual checkup, deliberately putting oneself in diffcult situations and refers to this as "feeding the rat". While climbing Shavano from Blank Cabin I actually fed the rat also....some hose insulation from under the hood of my car. Still made the summit and limped to the dealership in Salida.